


Stardust

by PrinceEllie



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Confessions, Feels, Gay Keith (Voltron), Lance (Voltron) Angst, Lance punishment, M/M, Major Character Injury, Multi, Other, Pining, Pining Keith (Voltron), major death, too late love confessions
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-02
Updated: 2018-07-02
Packaged: 2019-06-01 04:19:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 1,566
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15134957
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PrinceEllie/pseuds/PrinceEllie
Summary: This time, Keith is too late.There's nothing anyone can do besides keep one last promise.(Lance gets hurt and Keith is too late to save him)





	1. Selfless

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! This is my first time branching out into a new genre...Voltron! I love this show and Lance is my SON. I hope I do it justice!

He was too far.

He could make it, but he knew. It wouldn’t matter. It would be too late.

The sounds of his teammate’s voices melted into static as he rushed towards him anyway. He had to try. He had to try.

How could he not? It was Lance. 

He tried not to think as he rushed towards the now limp, dark lion. The lights had gone out, but static still sparked and surrounded the great beast. 

God Damnit, Lance!

He had did this for Keith. He threw himself in front of the beam at the last minute, seconds before it would’ve hit his own lion. He said nothing, indicated nothing. Keith had no idea.

And then it hit him in a blinding flash of light. Lance’s scream filled the comms as his lion roared, but he didn’t budge. He refused to move, and Keith could almost imagine it; Lance, grinding his teeth, face twisted in pain. He would’ve had a grip so tight on the controls his knuckles were white, and he had to squint against the light, but he wouldn’t let go. Lance never let go. 

Keith was close enough now to exit Black and propel himself as fast as he could to Red’s gaping mouth. Not even the lion was functioning enough to notice his presence.

“Lance!” he called, as he approached the cockpit. The doors had been firmly sealed shut, probably Red’s last attempt to protect their pilot. Either way Keith was not having it and, with a quiet apology, blasted the doors wide open. 

The room was dark. The only thing Keith could see was the universe outside, still lit up with flashes of the battle outside. 

“Keith? Keith! We need you!” Pidge’s voice crackled through his helmet. 

“I’m in Red.” he answered swiftly, beginning to move about the cabin. He could hardly see and there was no response from Lance. 

“Red? Why are you in Red?” Hunk’s voice asked, followed by a grunt. “Guys? I still need help!”

“Is Lance okay?” Allura.

“Keith? Is he safe?” Pidge.

“They’re coming towards the castle!” Coran.

“Keith, get Lance back here!” Shiro.

 

Keith clicked off the comms.


	2. Shooting Stars

_“You didn’t have to brush me off, you know.” Lance murmured, fidgeting with his fingers. He was sitting by the main windows, just there on the floor, when Keith walked in. He hadn’t expected anybody else to be there._

_“Lance.. I didn’t realize you’d be here.”_

_“I’m always here. I don’t have much to do anymore. I like to watch the universe go by, I guess.” He looked up and over his shoulder at Keith. He gave him a gentle smile which Keith returned, moving to sit next to him._

_“I’m sorry I brushed you off.” He murmured after a few seconds of silence._

_“It’s okay. I’ve kinda gotten used to it.” Lance wasn’t looking out over the stars anymore. He was looking at his crossed ankles, picking at a stray string on his pants._

_“You… what do you mean?” Lance shied away. He probably didn’t even notice that he did it, but he cringed ever so slightly. He didn’t want to talk about it. But because it was Keith, he did._

_“I’ve been… left out a bit.” He admitted. “Pidge has Hunk… Allura has Lot- well, she had him. She still wants him, though. She’ll never like me like that.” He sighed. “I don’t know. Everyone has someone else. I’m like.. A 7th wheel.”_

_“Lance that’s not true…” He sounded defeated._

_“Don’t try, Keith. You have Shiro. And the Blade. And now your…” He paused, a tiny crack forming in his words. “Your...mom. You have your mom, after all these years. Everybody has somebody.”_

_Keith didn’t know what to say. He had no idea Lance had been struggling so much. Sure, they talked when he was gone, but Lance never let on he was feeling so alone, and Keith never thought to ask. Shit. Lance had been going through all this by himself?_

 

_“What if they’re dead, Keith?” Lance’s wobbly voice seemed to shatter something deep inside Keith he didn’t know existed. He turned to see Lance hugging his knees, tears beginning to drip down his face. He was staring at the falling stars, and they seemed to glint in his eyes. “What if they’re gone? Mama? Pap? Abuelita? Sadie, Josie, Miles... Everyone? What if I get home and they’re all gone, Keith? What will I do?”_

_“Lance..” Lance looked over at him, trails of tears glinting off his skin._

_“Keith, I don’t want to be alone.” he whimpered, taking a shuddering breath. “I don't want to be alone.”_

_Keith took one look at him and realized that he never wanted the boy to feel alone in the great big universe ever again. “Come here.” He commanded gently, holding out his arms. After a moment of reluctance, Lance complied. It was effortless, fitting him in Keith’s lap. It felt like he belonged there._

_“I’m never gonna let you be alone, Lance. Never again.” He whispered as Lance pressed his face into his shirt. Lance sniffled, arms tightening around Keith’s waist. Every place Lance touched began to glow with warmth._

_“I promise.”_


	3. Glass

“Lance?”

 

He had rounded the pilot’s chair.

 

He had found him.

 

The glass of the cockpit had been shattered by the blast. Lance was covered in cuts and shards of glass and his head was hanging forward limply. He was only held upright by his seat belt. He had no helmet on, and his chest wasn’t moving.

 

“Quiznak….” He growled, gently letting his head fall back. Where was his helmet? How long had the glass been broken? Lance was suffocating.

 

He found it halfway across the cockpit, probably knocked off by the impact, and Keith scooped it up before shoving Lance into it. It sealed to his armour with a hiss.

 

“Lance! Hey, buddy...Can you wake up for me? Lance?” he dropped to his knees in front of the pilot’s chair, cupping Lance’s face in his hands. Lance didn’t rouse.

 

“Come on… Come on…” He murmured as he began pulling at the straps of Lance’s seatbelt. He needed something to get him breathing again… chest compressions. But he couldn’t do it with Lance sitting up.

 

“Come _on!”_ he yelled, resorting to just ripping the belts. The sound of tearing fabric echoed in

his ears as Lance fell forward into his arms. As quickly as he could manage he arranged him on the floor, kneeling beside him.

 

“Stay with me…” he whispered as he placed his hands over his chest, beginning to press down as hard as he could. He didn’t know what to do. He needed help.

 

He spared a second to click on his comms before resuming compressions the best he could.

 

“Keith?! Do you have Lance? What’s going on?” Shiro’s voice was the first one he heard, frantic and worried.

 

“He isn’t… He’s not breathing.” Keith’s voice wobbled. He hadn’t even noticed he had started crying.

 

“He... Shit. Keith, I’m on my way.” Shiro sounded far off, like he was talking from a million miles away. “Allura, help Pidge and Hunk. This fight isn’t over. Keith, keep doing whatever you’re doing. Get him breathing.”


	4. Blood and Tears

 

In the whole wide universe, Lance and Keith were the only ones. It drifted over Keith suddenly, like a summer storm.

 

He must’ve been doing compressions for hours. It seemed like hours.

 

The stars glinted off the glass of Lance’s mask, like that night under the windows. He almost couldn’t see his bleeding, broken face. He looked like he was made of stars.

 

He wasn’t going to breathe again.

 

Keith felt it with a sickening certainty. There was no color left in him. No warmth, no life. He knew it deep in his bones. He was too late.

 

“Lance…” he whispered, finally letting his hands rest. His arms and heart screamed at him, but he knew. “Lance, please.”

 

Lance didn’t respond.

  


_Lance coming to him in the night, seeking refuge from nightmares._

 

_Lance meeting him in the pool, teaching him ballet moves on the edge and splashing him when he messed up._

 

_The pride in Lance’s face when he showed Keith his sword._

 

_Lance._

  


He pulled the boy into his arms.

 

“Lance… Lance I’m sorry..” he whispered, cradling his helmet in his arms. “I’m so sorry.”

 

With shaking hands he unlatched his helmet. It slipped off easily, and Lance’s peaceful face came into view. He didn’t look like he was in pain. The blood from his wounds had dried and the shards of glass almost twinkled in the starlight.

 

_He had promised_

 

Maybe it was grief, or guilt, but somehow Lance had never looked so beautful.

 

_He never told him he loved him._

 

How had he not known how perfectly Lance’s head fit in his hands?

 

_He would never kiss him again._

 

Keith didn’t realize what was dripping onto Lance’s flawless skin until he wiped his own eyes.

 

_Lance would never laugh._

 

_He would never smile._

 

_Start a food fight._

 

_Fly his lion._

 

_Practice with Keith._

 

_Flirt with Allura._

 

_Hug Hunk._

 

_Play video games with Pidge._

 

_Teach Shiro how to laugh again._

 

_He would never see his family._

 

Lance’s lips, somehow, where still sweet. They tasted like salt and blood and pain and that one last, tiny shard of hope. They felt like a missed chance and an everlasting regret.

 

 They felt like a broken promise. 


End file.
